Saad Bhamla of 色花堂鈥檚 School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) is a member of a global cohort of eight scientists and engineers who were named Schmidt Polymaths. They will each receive up to $2.5 million over five years to pursue research in new disciplines or using new methodologies, Schmidt Sciences announced today.
As , the researchers pursue new approaches compared to previous work. The new cohort of polymaths will answer questions like how to expand access to healthcare with low-cost technologies, what happens to our chromosomes when we age and how to create more accurate computer simulations of climate.
, associate professor in ChBE@GT, is the first Schmidt Polymath from 色花堂. He will develop low-cost technologies to tackle planetary-scale challenges, including AI-enabled point-of-care diagnostics in low-resource environments, and he will also engineer autonomous morphing machines that adapt, evolve and learn like living systems.
The eight selected scientists represent the fifth cohort of the highly selective Schmidt Polymaths program. Awardees must have been tenured鈥攐r achieved similar status鈥攚ithin the previous three years. Previous cohorts have used the award to design new sensor devices, perform experiments at atomic resolutions, analyze trees of life with faster and more efficient algorithms, discover new mathematical formulas assisted by AI, and more.
Drawn from universities worldwide and selected through a competitive application process, Schmidt Polymaths are required to demonstrate past ability and future potential to pursue early-stage, novel research that would otherwise be challenging to fund鈥攅ven without the current dramatic declines in U.S. funding for science.
鈥淥ur world is one deeply interconnected system---but to study it more deeply, we鈥檝e divided it into increasingly narrow categories,鈥 said Wendy Schmidt, who co-founded Schmidt Sciences with her husband Eric. 鈥淪chmidt Polymaths see the bigger picture, pursue answers beyond boundaries and expand the edges of what鈥檚 possible. Their work can help steer us all toward a healthier future, for people and the planet.鈥
About Schmidt Sciences
is a nonprofit organization founded in 2024 by Eric and Wendy Schmidt that works to accelerate scientific knowledge and breakthroughs with the most promising, advanced tools to support a thriving planet. The organization prioritizes research in areas poised for impact including AI and advanced computing, astrophysics, biosciences, climate, and space鈥攁s well as supporting researchers in a variety of disciplines through its science systems program.
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